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The Story of the 
"Old Stone Chimney" 



by Peter A. Porter 




AS RE-ERECTED ON ITS PRESENT SITE 



NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. 
1915 



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ON ORIGINAL SITE 



NIAGARA'S "OLD STONE CHIMNEY" 



BY 

PETER A. PORTER 

Niagara Falls. N. Y.. September 1. 1915 

THE Niagara Frontier Historical Society has re- 
cently expressed its appreciation of the fact that 
we still have in our midst an historical lelic which 
dates back to the days when the flag bearing the 
Lilies of France controlled the destinies of all this 
region; by placing upon it a tablet which summarizes 
its history. 

If there is any structure within our goodly City, 
which deserved to be marked for perpetuity, surely 
it was this old, so-called, Fort Schlosser Chimney: 
although it ante-dates that Fort by full ten years. 

It is not only the most ancient masonry within our 
City limits, but, with the exception of the "Casde" at 
Fort Niagara, which was completed in 1 727, it is the 
oldest masonry on the Frontier, and further yet. with 
the same exception, it is the oldest masonry in the 
State of New York, west of Albany. 

It originally stood to the west of the British Portage 
Road; today, in its reconstructed form, it stands some 
1 50 feet farther eastward, and exactly in the line of 
that ancient high-way. 

The river shore used to be very much nearer to it 
than it is today, for considerable new land was made 
by filling in with the rock taken out when the great 
tunnel was constructed. 

When the first white man saw the Falls, an Indian 
trail around them, seven miles in length and extend- 
ing from the upper to the lower river, had existed for 
many, perhaps many hundreds of years. 

3 



The French used it during the entire period of 
their occupation of this region, but never improved it 
to any extent; all their portaging being done on men's 
shoulders, a goodly number of Indians being thus 
constantly employed. 

Starting from the lower river, that trail ran up the 
gully, which still exists at the foot of the Lewiston 
Mountain; thence it crept up the side of the cliff, even 
as it does today and then follow^ed the present road 
until it reached Schoelkopf Park, in the City of Niagara 
Falls; thence it ran in a straight line to a point just 
above the intake of the Hydraulic Canal. There, the 
spot has always been called the "Frenchmen's Land- 
ing", and has recently been transformed into a City 
Park, the French built a small stone Block House, in 
1 745, w^hich w^as know^n as the First Fort Little Niagara. 

Five years later, their increasing commerce w^ith 
the west demanded larger boats in order to allow 
of larger cargoes, and the swift current at this point 
made it too dangerous for the landing of the heavy 
and heavily laden boats. 




So they built a larger Fort, half a mile up stream, 
making that the terminus of the trail, or portage, 
and carried that road up stream, along the bank, to it. 

4 



e 

vis- 



Then, in 1 750, this Chimney was built It was not 
in that Fort, but some rods below it, and adjoined 
the Barracks and Mess House ; the lime for its mortar 
being "portaged" from Lewiston. 

There is no known picture of that structure, but it 
was a two story log building. That is proven by th 
fireplace for the second story, which was plainly 
ible in this Chimney ; this was closed up, when a new 
structure was built to it in 1 840, and the stone arch 
of that upper fire-place, formed of the identical 
stones, has been exactly reproduced in the rebuilt 
Chimney. That French fort stood until 1 759, Chabert 
Joncaire being its commander. In that year Britain 
finally began the long-projected campaign which 
was to result in driving France from the North 
American Continent. 

This Fort, called Fort du Portage, or Second 
Little Niagara, was merely a dependency of Fort 
Niagara, and when Britian laid siege to the larger fort, 
the French burned this dependency, in order to pre- 
vent its falling into the hands of the British. It was a 
small but regular fort with bastioned earth-works 
surrounded by palisades, its buildings being construc- 
ted of logs. 

When the French troops from the west, accom- 
panied by their Indian allies, who were hastening to 
the defense of Fort Niagara, reached this fort, nothing 
but its earth works, and this chimney remained. 
The British soon captured Fort Niagara, and thus 
became the controllers, and five years later, through 
deeds from the Senecas, the actual owners of the 
famous Niagara Portage. They realized the imperative 
need of a fort at the upper end of the Portage, and 
Captain Schlosser, a German serving in the British 
army, was ordered to construct it. 

He did so in 1 760, erecting three block houses of 
logs, and connecting them with each other by palisades, 

5 



which also extended to the river, its site being above 
the old chimney, but nearer to it than the destroyed 
French fort. It was named Fort Schlosser, after him. 




He had found in Fort Niagara the frame w^ork for 
a Chapel, which the French had prepared. He had it 
carried over the old Portage, piece by piece, and re- 
erected, belfry and all, alongside the old chimney, 
for use as a barracks and mess house, but this time 
for British troops. 

One Duncan secured a lease of a part of the build- 
ing for use as a "trading post;" and on some early 
maps, the site is marked, "Duncan's." Bitter protests 
were made against his "monopoly" in an army build- 
ing, and the lease w^as soon cancelled. 

In 1 760 General Gage, the British commander out 
here, gave one John Stedman a contract to improve 
the Portage road, or old trail, between Lewiston and 
Fort Schlosser : It was to be widened and made 
passable for wagon traffic from the lower river as 
far as Schoelkopf Park in this city. From that point 
a new piece of road was to be constructed direct to 
Fort Schlosser and that new piece, about a mile in 
length, is today officially known as "Portage Road." 

Stedman finished his contract in I 763, and on the 
first return train over it to Fort Niagara, the Senecas 
ambushed it at the "Devil's Hole." They were in- 
censed at Britain, because of her intention to benefit 
transportation over the Portage by the use of ox-carts, 
thus depriving them of their long continued employ- 

6 



ment as "carriers," and were ready to listen to Pontiac's 
urging to join his "Confederacy" against Britain. 
Stedman, on horse-back led that train, which con- 
sisted of about a dozen carts drawn by oxen, their 
teamsters and 24 soldiers as an escort. Of them only 
two men, (Stedman one of them) and a drummer boy 
escaped. A savage seized the bridle of Stedman's 
horss. He drove his knife through that Seneca's 
hand, slashed the bridle, put spurs to his horse and 
fled back to Fort Schlosser. 

Four months later, when the Senecas sued for for- 
giveness for that massacre, Sir Wm. Johnson agreed, 
on condition that the Senecas deed to Britain the 
lands on both sides of the Niagara River from Lake 
Ontario to some tw^o miles above the Falls on the 
American side, and to some distance above them on 
the Canada shore;- thus including the entire Niagara 
Portage. 

The Senecas accepted and in 1 764, not only gave 
the deed, but under complusion of the presence of a 
British army, also included all the lands on both shores 
clear to Lake Erie. 




The need of absolute protection for this famous 
Portage had aheady led Britain to erect, in 1764, 
eleven Block Houses along it some 1200 yards apart. 

7 



With Fort Schlosser guarding its upper end. with 
those block houses along it, and with the fort at 
Lewiston, it was the best protected highway in all 
North America. 




Britain held our American Niagara Frontier by- 
ownership until the close of the Revolution, and by 
occupation from 1 783 to I 796, known in history as 
"The Hold-Over Period." 

John Stedman was the master of the Portage from 
1 760 until 1 796 and made his headquarters in the 
house Capt. Schlosser had built and it came to be 
universally known as "Stedman's House. It was a 




square two story building, with a square two story 
wing, which latter adjoined this chimney; and both 
stories in both parts were loop-holed for musketry. 

8 



it was a miniature fort in itself. In it, during that 
long period, he entertained every prominent person 
who crossed the Portage, reserving a special brand 
of "toddy" for their refreshment. 

Before that Chimney's fireplace messed the 
officers of Fort Schlosser, and the officers of all the 
frequently passing British troops; before it dined also 
the many "traders," who were large users of the 
Portage, both going west and coming east; and before 
its blazing fire numberless Indian chiefs and "braves" 
ate their fill, drank more than that, and then laid 
them down on the kitchen floor to sleep, perchance 
to dream of future "drunks" and of future deviltry. 

John Stedman was the owner of the famous Billy 

Goat, from which the Island which separates the two 

Falls, derived its name. He used to keep a flock of 

goats on it, and during the exceptionally severe winter 

of 1779-80, the entire flock perished, save only that 

one male goat. He is said to have gotten them over to 

the Island, one at a time, in canoes, selecting the 

Island because it was inaccessable to the wolves, 

which were very numerous hereabouts in those days. 

Stedman never made any claim to the Island's 

ownership. He knew that the Senecas had presented 

it, together with all the other islands in the river to 

Sir Wm. Johnson in 1 764 and that Sir William had 

immediately turned it over to the British Crown. 

Stedman is credited with preferring to reach Goat 

Island, from his home, by horse-back, rather than by 

canoe. He would ride down to the New City Park 

at the 10 Rod Strip, and then swim his horse across 

the channel to the shallow bar which still extends far 

up stream from the Island's eastern or upper end. 

When he removed to Canada, in 1 796, he then, 

for the first time set up a claim to the ownership of 

some 5,000 acres of land, which he said the Senecas 

had given him in 1 763, because they believed the 

9 



Great Spirit had purposely saved his life at the 
Devil's Hole Massacre. The land he claimed em- 
braced all that lying west of the Portage Road, over 




STEDMAN RIDING TO GOAT ISLAND 



which he had fled to safety, and between that and 
the Niagara River, from Fort Schlosser to the Devil's 
Hole. That claim covered the larger part of the 
present City of Niagara Falls, to-day worth many 
millions. It was a perfectly fraudulent claim. The 
Senecas had deeded all that land to Britain in 1 764, 
he had never mentioned the claim before 1 796, he 
said he had given the deed to Sir William Johnson 
for safe keeping, (but Sir William himself had bought 
all that land for Britain in 1 764) and that the deed 
w^as destroyed w^hen Sir William's house w^as burnt; 
and he never mentioned his claim until long after 
Sir William's death. He left Jesse Ware in the 
"Stedman House" to hold possession and to prose- 
cute that claim. The Courts decided against him 
and in 1 804, Ware was ejected. 

In 1 805, the State of New York leased the Niagara 
Portage, under competative bids, to the firm of Porter, 

10 



Barton & Co. Augustus Porter, one of that firm lived 
in the Stedman House from 1806 to 1808. Then 
Enos Broughton leased it for a Tavern, he made it the 
center of activities of the region, and there the 
"General Trainings" were held. 

The first instance of an Indian Tribe offering aid 
in war to the United States, was when the declaration 
of the war of '12, reached this frontier, and 100 of the 
Tuscaroras from the reservation near Lewiston, headed 
by their Chief John Mount Pleasant, hurried to Fort 
Niagara for that purpose, — suggesting that they be 
allowed to garrison and defend Fort Schlosser. The 
War of '12, of course put an end to the Portage 
business during its duration. Broughton's Tavern 
became again a mess house, this time for the United 
States officers in Fort Schlosser. During that war 
the British did not reach Fort Schlosser until July 4, 
1813, when a party from Chippewa made a dash on 
it, overcame its weak garrison, ate and drank in front 
of this chimney, and after a six hours occupancy re- 
turned to Canada, carrying away such booty as they 
could. 

In December of that year the British and their 
Indians devastated the entire American shore of our 
river both by fire and the sword. Of nearly four 
hundred buildings on our frontier, outside of Fort 
Niagara, (which they had captured, and of course 
held,) but five buildings escaped the flames. When 
they had passed Fort Schlosser nothing but this 
chimney remained. 

In 1839 General Peter B. Porter bought from Peter 
Grimard a considerable tract, embracing the site of Fort 
Schlosser. In 1 840 he erected a large frame house, 
with a one story stone wing, which latter adjoined this 
chimney. In that house, as a child, the writer lived 
for more than a year. It stood until about 1 880; 
when it was torn down, a huge stone bake-oven which 

II 




OLD CHIMNEY IN 1858 
Drawn by Col. Peter A. Porter for Lossing the Historian 



Stood at the east end of the first story of the main 
house was taken down, but the old chimney was left 
intact. 

A few years later the Niagara Falls Power Co., 
bought that land and when, in the course of its de- 
velopments, it became necessary to use the site of the 
Old Chimney for a new factory building, that com- 
pany through its general manager, the late William 
B. Rankine, generously, purely in a spirit of historical 
sentiment, and at a large expense, offered to remove 
this relic to a position in one of its streets, where it 
would be free from further molestation. Everyone of 
its outside surface stones w^as carefully marked: loving 
hands took it down, and it was re-erected here in 
exact facsimile of its former shape and appearance. 
That Corporation has ever since received, and will 
always receive, the sincere thanks of the people, for 
having thus preserved this ancient landmark for the 

12 



benefit, not only the history of this locaHty. but also 
for that of the state and of the nation. 

That chimney's story is an integral part, yes, 
almost an epitome, of the history of this Frontier, for 
the past 165 years. As a part, first of a French, then 
of a British, and then of a United States Fort it pro- 
tected the commerce of the Niagara portage; which 
portage was so long the only gate-way therefor be- 
tween the Atlantic coast and the regions of all the 
upper lakes: and alongside of it flowed for over half 
a century, the entire commerce of half a continent. 
Indian tribes have fought against one another, and 
savages have murdered and scalped white men, in 
its immediate vicinage. During three quarters of a 
century, absolutely all of the provisions, all of the 
clothing, all of the ammunition for the forts in the 
w^est, under three successive nations, passed beside 
it. As an evidence of the magnitude of that early 
western military commerce it is recorded that in I 764, 
5,000 barrels of provisions alone w^ere lying adjacent 
to this chimney, awaiting transportation up the lakes 
in row boats. And, by it, coming eastward, flowed 
during 60 years, a constant stream of peltries gathered 
all over the great north west, which aggregated three 
quarters of the enormous fur trade of North America. 
By it often in days of peace, not infrequently in days 
of w^ar, numberless companies of soldiers, and often 
hostile armies, of France, of Britain, and of the 
United States of America have marched and camped. 

It was built just before those troublesome days, 
when the elder Pitt, Earl of Chatham, rose to supreme 
power in Britain, and wrested Canada and the valley 
of the Mississippi from the control of the glittering 
court of King Louis of France. It was here when 
Pontiac's great conspiracy was at its zenith and by it 
then passed three separate expeditions for the relief 
of besieged Detroit. It sustained the life of its gar- 

13 




14 



risons in a fort, which insignificant in size and 
strength, was, because of its guardianship of one end 
of the indispensable Niagara Portage, the most im- 
portant fort on North America, after Quebec and Fort 
Niagara. It was helping to feed British soldiers when 
the American Colonists were battling for their in- 
dependence in the war of the Revolution. It has 
sheltered many a miserable white captive who 
warmed himself and ate a civilized meal before its 
fire place while his savage captors guzzled the white 
man's "fire-water." 

It has seen it site pass from the control of France 
to that of Britain and from Britain to the United 
States. It played its part in the war of 1812, and for 
a second time survived the destruction of its fort. 
It w^as over four score years old w^hen the Patriot 
Rebellion broke out and the steamer "Caroline" 
seized within its sight, was towed out onto the river, 
set on fire, and then cast adrift by its British captors, 
floated majestically by shrouded in flames amid the 
icy grandeur of that December night, on its way over 
the Cataract. It had long passed the Century mark 
when the troops of both the opponents in the Fenian 
Rebellion marched by on the opposite shore. It was 
hoary with age, when it witnessed the construction 
of the great Tunnel and saw the subsequent phenomi- 
nal developments all around its site of Electrical 
Niagara. It stands to-day as one of the few remain- 
ing monuments of French occupation in the country; 
a surviving witness of that famous struggle in the 
1 8th Century between France and England for the 
possession of this New World. 

Surely, we do right to treasure it and to suitably 
inscribe it. 



Reprinted from The Courterpress 
15 




3477.12J 
Lot 52* 



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